The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week - Ask Us Anything: Can you boost your immune system?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Did you know that there's an online cannabis company that ships federally legal THC right to your door? And talking about mood.com, they have an incredible line of cannabis dummies and a lot more. And you can get 20% off your first order at mood.com with promo code Weirdest. It's third party lab tested and ships directly to you in a discreet box. Best of all, everything's backed by Mood's 100-day satisfaction guarantee. And like I said, you can get 20% off with code Weirdest. So if you're looking to try some new cannabis products, head on over to mood.com. Get 20% off your first order now with code weirdest.

Starting point is 00:00:35 That's code weirdest for 20% off. You said this place was steps from the water. We just haven't found the steps yet. How much did we save? Enough. Enough to get lost. Or you could book a stay with Hilton. Welcome to your ocean front room.

Starting point is 00:00:53 Just steps from the water. The Hilton sale is on now. Book on Hilton.com or The Hilton.com. Hilton app and save up to 20% to get the stay you expected. When you want savings, not surprises. It matters where you stay. Hilton, for the stay. Hello, welcome to ask us anything where popular science answers your most outlandish,

Starting point is 00:01:19 mind-burning questions from what the universe is made of to why not everyone can touch their toes. I'm your host, Claire Maldarelli. And I'm your producer, Just Bodie. Let's dive into today's question. question. Yeah. So this week's question is, can I boost my immune system? Oh, right. Yes. Everyone wants to be that person who never gets sick. I think of myself as someone who rarely gets colds, but don't want to brag. You definitely know at least one of those people. The person in that office, oh my gosh, remember office life.

Starting point is 00:01:56 Yeah, barely. Right. Who somehow skips the bug that's traveling from cubicle to cubicle or the one that doesn't come down with a cold even when the entire family falls victim. And considering we're still in the throes of a pretty severe, I would say, viral pandemic. Yeah, pretty severe, just a little. Yeah, yeah. Shoring up that kind of apparent super immunity feels even more imperative. So it's an enticing idea, perform certain activities or eat in certain things, and perhaps you could become an illness fighting ninja.

Starting point is 00:02:30 I love the idea of being a ninja in any form. Yeah. But, okay, unfortunately, it's not exactly how the immune system works. But there is hope. More on that in a minute. Welcome back. Today, we're looking into whether you can boost your immune system. The short answer?

Starting point is 00:02:56 Not really. Oh, nuts. I knew it was too good to be true. Yes, Jess, but not all hope is lost. Okay, so keep listening. It's worth the weight. Okay, okay. There are things you can do to help your immune system do its best work, fighting a nasty illness, whether it's COVID-19 or the common colds.

Starting point is 00:03:13 But before we get into any of that, it's important to understand how our body's natural defenses work. Our immune systems are actually two different sets of responses, the innate and adaptive. The innate immune system is made up of various proteins and cells that activate as a response to any type of bodily injury or illness, even a scrape to the leg. But the latter, the adaptive immune system is far more precise. When you get a cold, the flu, or even the novel coronavirus, cells within your adaptive immune system rush out to identify exactly what that sickness is. Once they do, they cleverly design new immune cells, including ones called antibodies, to find and kill that infection. Those protective cells remain in the body, so when you come in contact with that virus, bacteria, or other infectious agent again, your immune system knows exactly what to do. That's why it's generally incredibly rare to get the exact same infection twice. This memory mechanism is very cool and convenient. It's also why vaccines work so well.

Starting point is 00:04:20 The vaccine can be a tiny bit of virus or bacteria, usually a dead version, or pieces of genetic material like MRNA, that instruct the body to create a component of the infectious agent that the body will recognize, such as those spiky proteins on the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Once presented with that infectious bit, your immune system builds cells that can kill the intruder. After that, the system creates what's called memory T cells, which remember the infections so that when you come in contact with it, your body knows exactly how to kill it. But the key component here is the sequence of events.

Starting point is 00:04:58 First, come in contact with the virus, then develop immunity to it. Unfortunately, as you can see, it just can't work the other way around. So the idea of quote-unquote boosting the immune system until it can fight off any infection just doesn't make sense. There are countless cold viruses, known as rhinoviruses, and various forms of the flu, which is a big reason why the flu vaccine isn't always as effective as doctors hope. There's no way to train the body to fight all of them. Yeah, that would really make life a lot easier if we could, I guess.

Starting point is 00:05:32 Is there anything, like, at all that we can do? Yes. So your innate and adaptive immune system both need a certain amount of cells to work properly. If you want to give yourself a fighting chance, figuring out the best way to activate the right number of immune cells is key. Oh, so how do you do that? That's the million dollar question. We don't have the tools to boost any one person's production of one type of immune cell versus another just at the draw. of a hat. And even if we did have that ability, it wouldn't necessarily benefit us.

Starting point is 00:06:08 Having an increased number of a certain type of immune cell is actually not a good idea if there's no immediate infection. In fact, it could potentially lean to too much inflammation in the body, which could eventually hurt your organs or even lead to an autoimmune disease. Really, there's just no need for it. If you haven't been infected with, say, the common cold, then carrying around a ton of antibodies against that one virus is doing you more harm than good. You don't want an immune system in a constant state of activity, since that takes a toll on your body. What you really want is one that can act quickly and effectively when an infection hits. Okay, okay, I got you. So how then do I make my immune system chill when I don't need it, but powerful and fast acting when I do need it?

Starting point is 00:06:54 Yes, Jess. Great question. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Always asking the good questions here. ask us anything. There are the obvious factors, like getting the proper amount of sleep. That's eight hours for adults. Yes, eight hours. We'll get into that on a later episode, I promise. Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, sleep affects the immune system in a number of ways. Some studies show that when you are sick, sleep might help send immune cells to the lymph nodes, which is where they go to work multiplying in bulk. And sleep is important for creating the right immune cells to fight off disease. For example, in one study, researchers gave participants the hepatitis A vaccine, and that night they sent half the study participants to bed for a full

Starting point is 00:07:39 night sleep and had the other half pull in all-nighter. Four weeks later, on average, the ones that slept regularly on that first night had twice the number of antibodies to the hepatitis infection than the ones that didn't get their disease. Oh, okay, so what about food then? Can I just like chug green juice. Green juice. I feel like that's the answer to so many things. Sort of. So in terms of nutrition, eating a well-balanced diet will keep your immune system balanced too. On a macro-nutrient front, studies show that protein might be particularly important for a strong immune system. Protein is key to forming every cell in the body, immune ones included. More specifically, protein contains an amino acid called L-Arginine, which immunologists suspect helps generate specific

Starting point is 00:08:29 types of T cells called helper T's. These cells show the rest of the immune system what the virus looks like so that it can generate specific cells to fight it. Consuming protein with L. Arginine, which is found in red meat, poultry, fish, and dairy, according to Megan Mayer, director of science communication at the International Food Information Council, which is a nonprofit organization focused on providing science-backed nutrition research to the public, is a way to ensure your body is making the right amount of T cells. And consuming enough protein overall is a way to ensure you'll have plenty of T cells in the event you are confronted with an infectious disease. Things like your height, weight, and how much you exercise all influence how much protein your body needs. But the average person

Starting point is 00:09:15 require 0.36 grams per pound of body weight. So a good way to get a rough estimate of how much protein you need is to multiply 0.36 by your weight. So, for example, someone weighing 160 pounds would need about 58 grams of protein per day. For reference, a chicken leg is about 12.4 grams of protein, or one-fifth of that person's daily needs. Oh, so you just need like five chicken legs and you're good. Yeah, five chicken legs a day. It keeps the doctor away. Okay. But on the micronutrient scale, there are also a few standouts.

Starting point is 00:09:55 Perhaps the most well studied is zinc. A few very good double-blind placebo-controlled trials, which is the quote-unquote gold standard of scientific research. Using zinc lozenges at the start of a common cold reduce the duration and severity of the infection. And a comprehensive review of nearly 20 trials and more than 1,700 participants also showed that the element did decrease symptom duration of the common cold, though only by a day. And researchers do have an idea of how it works. Due to their unique shapes, zinc atoms are able to literally attach themselves to the rhinovirus and prevent it from further infecting the person.

Starting point is 00:10:36 So eating foods with the element on a regular basis, which include red meat, seafood, and whole grains, as well of some fortified foods like breakfast cereals, and taking zinc supplements can potentially prevent and decrease the severity of a common cold infection, though it is no magic bullet and it will certainly not get rid of the cold entirely. Luckily, other micronutrients can help too. For example, one study out of the British Medical Journal found that vitamin D supplements reduce the risk of respiratory infections, and another done on school-age children in Japan found that vitamin D reduced the risk of influenza. A number of recent studies have linked low vitamin D levels with severe COVID-19. But more studies are absolutely needed to make any definitive conclusions

Starting point is 00:11:23 or recommendations. So the bottom line is that sleeping well and eating a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and proteins will help your body maintain a healthy and stable immune system, one that can jump into action as soon as you need it. And of course, get your flu shot and COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to you. You don't have to tell you. You don't have to tell you. me twice. Thanks, Claire. My pleasure. Got a question for the editors at Popular Science? Send an email to Ask at Popsai.com. We'll be back soon to answer more questions. Ask Us Anything is produced by the editors of Popular Science. This episode was written and reported by me, Claire Maldarelli, with additional

Starting point is 00:12:07 editing and audio engineering by Jess Bodie. Big thanks to Billy Cadden for writing our theme song and to Katie Belloff for creating our logo. If you like our show, Consider rating it on Apple Podcasts and leaving a review. It helps us a lot. For more Popsai audio content, be sure to check out our sibling podcast, The Weirdest Thing I Learn This Week. I'm Claire Maldarelli. Thanks for listening.

Starting point is 00:12:37 Ambition comes in all shapes and sizes. At First Citizens Bank, we roll with your goals because we're built for what you're building. Fit for your ambition for Citizens Bank. Enjoy more ways to save at Ralph's, like low prices in every aisle. And when you download the Ralph's app, you can clip and save more with digital coupons every week. Plus, you can earn fuel points to save up to $1 per gallon at the pump. At Ralph's, you can enjoy more ways to save and more rewards every time you shop. So it's always easy to save big every day with savings and rewards.

Starting point is 00:13:15 Ralph's SoCal for over 150 years. Savings may vary by state. Fuel restrictions apply. See site for details.

The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week - Ask Us Anything: Can you boost your immune system?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.